Chapter 69

"What did you think you were doing out there tonight?"He glared at me, and I wasn't surprised to see the lightning flashing in his stormy eyes.
"We're still on that?"I snorted. "You don't give up, do you? You're the one who told me that I'm the Godhunter. You said it attracted you to me in the first place and yet you don't want me to hunt."
"Damn you, Vervain!"Thor yelled, and the whole place shook.
I laughed with relief. If Thor was this mad at me, it could only mean one thing; he still cared.
"What the fuck are you laughing about?"He stomped across the room, the floor shivering under his feet, and loomed over me.
The better to glare at you, my dear.
"Wow, you're really angry."My smile never wavered.
"I asked you what you were laughing about,"the vibrations from his voice started to last longer than the actual sound.
"You know, Thor"-I kicked off my boots—"there's a lot that I find funny about this situation."
Thor took a step back and frowned; following the arc of my footwear to the floor before returning his narrowed stare to me. "What the hell are you doing now?"
"It's rather funny that the very mess Blue had intended to bring me back to him has only landed me back here. In your bedroom."I unbuckled my gloves and threw them over by the boots.
Thor's eyes widened, and his voice lost its thunder. "Vervain, what are you doing?"
"It's also funny that I got a little overdressed to hunt vampires, but I'm glad I did since you showed up."My smile turned sultry.
"You are?"His voice was just the barest breath of sound.
"And it's really funny that I'm so much of an ass that it took a bunch of vampires to get me to admit how much I've missed you."I undid my hair and shook it out so that it fell to my waist in loose waves.
"You are?"His voice came out a little choked. "You do?"
"Even with them out there, killing on my island, I can't stop feeling overjoyed to see you."I stood up and stepped in closer to him.
"You can't?"
He shuddered as I ran my hands up his chest and around his neck. I stood on my tiptoes and pulled his head down to mine.
"Forgive me, baby?"I whispered against his lips, and he groaned.
"Vervain."Thor pulled me off my feet and kissed me as if it were our first kiss.
I yanked Thor's shirt from his jeans and laid my hands on his bare chest. I could feel his heartbeat through his skin; pounding faster and faster. Then my mouth was back to his; a soft sound escaping my lips as I felt the thick muscles of his chest clench beneath my fingers. My hands traveled on a path so well-known to them that they needed no direction. It was automatic and effortless; the map of his body was memorized in my fingertips.
Thor's hands were at the zipper of my vest and then my breasts were spilling free; the leather thrown on the ever growing pile of clothing. Thor pulled away and looked down at me with those lightning-filled eyes. Pupils dilating; framing the lightning. Nostrils flaring slightly with his rapid breaths. Skin glowing gold beneath my fingertips. I couldn't believe that I threw this away because of some stupid fight. Because of my stupid pride.
"Why wouldn't you let me come to you?"His hands slid over both of my breasts as he spoke.
"What?"I grabbed his hands and held them still as I stared up at him in shock.
"I've lived only for my dreams with you."Thor's hands slipped out of my grip and drifted up to my face. "My days were spent in a frustrated haze; anxiously waiting for night. When I could see you and touch you again."
"That really was you?"I was horrified, embarrassed, and oddly relieved.
"I tried to tell you, darling."He smiled gently.
"Yeah, you did."I felt my breath catch; constricting my throat as I realized that everything that had happened between us had been real. Thor had said those things because he wanted to, not because I wanted him to. "Then you really—?"
"Love you?"He smiled wider. "Yes, I love you, you stubborn, stupid woman."
"I love you too, you patient, overprotective god."
I glimpsed an expression of fierce joy on Thor's face before he swooped down and kissed me again. Static electricity crackled along my skin and tingled where our mouths met. He tasted of ozone and rain; his tongue hot and his breath cool. A breeze swirled around us; playing in my hair and raising shivers on my back. Then his hands followed, hot and sure, making me lean into his warmth as if he were both shelter and storm.
I swallowed past the nervous twitches in my throat and undid his jeans with shaky hands. Thor pushed them down before kicking them across the room with barely restrained annoyance. I laughed a little until he knelt and covered a breast with his mouth. The laughter turned into a sharp gasp, and I arched against him as he lavished attention on me with his tongue. Liquid fire rushed through me, melting my bones, and I went limp. Thor used his free hand to support my weight, and I grabbed big handfuls of his hair to hold him against me. By the time he turned his attention to the other breast, I was writhing in need; little snakes of desire twisting in my belly.
"Enough,"I groaned as he kissed his way down.
Thor unbuttoned my leather pants, and I sighed as they slithered down my legs.
"Never enough."He bit at the front of the red lace g-string that was the only thing remaining between him and I.
My heart jumped at his choice of words and the tenderness in them. I looked down into his ocean-colored eyes and shook my head. "I've been such an idiot."
"At least you've come to your senses."Thor gave me a big Cheshire cat grin and pulled my panties down.
I stepped out of them, and he flung them away as if they'd been trying to keep us apart. Thor looked up at me; all lightning flashes and hot desire. Warm, magic-filled hands slid reverently up my calves, over my thighs, and finally came to a stop at my waist.
"You're so beautiful,"he whispered.
"Look who's talking."I tugged on his hand to urge him to his feet.
"Men are not beautiful,"he chided as he scooped me up and laid me back in his bed.
I struggled with the comforter and finally kicked it onto the floor as he laughed. The silk sheets beneath me slid against my skin with a cool, welcoming caress. Much better. I leaned back on my elbows and enjoyed the show of him crawling over me.
"I don't know about men in general."I licked my lips. "But, baby, you are a thing of beauty."
"Call me baby again."He smiled against my mouth.
"Baby,"I whispered and pulled his mass of red-gold hair around me. It smelled of storms on the sea. It smelled like home.
"Mmm."He licked my lips and kissed his way to my ear. "I like the taste of that word on your lips. Try my name now."
"Thor."I smiled as his lips returned to press gently against mine.
Thor breathed in my breath and when he exhaled, he drew it down my body; painting me with sparks of light blue. His lips brushed my skin; sending shivers deeper into me before he pulled back to continue the fluttering administration of his breath. Then there were his hands. Little sparks tingled from the tips of his fingers to dance across my flesh; jolting my body back to life as if it had been dead without him. By the time he'd covered me completely, I was a shaking shell of my former self. A whimpering half-wit who couldn't remember her own name.
Thor brought me to the edge of desire over and over again before we even joined. It all became a blur of pleasure for me after that. Sweat, lightning, shaking legs, clutching hands, and his beautiful face. It became my whole world during the hours I spent wrapped around him. I don't even know how long it was before we finally fell away from each other and laid there catching our breaths. But I will forever remember his first words to me afterward.
"I would like to remove his mark from you."Thor had leaned over me, to draw his tongue across the scars Blue had left on my neck. "Will you let me trade his for mine?"
"You can do that?"I twisted my head and met his intense stare.
"Yes, if you'll let me."
"Do it."I bent my head to the side; offering him my neck. Trade Thor's mark for Blue's? Hell, yes; any day.
Thor covered the marks with his mouth, and I felt his magic gather in great tingling waves. His tongue seemed to spark against me and a sharp jolt of electricity shot into my skin. I screamed from the mix of pleasure and pain as he leaned further over me; one hand going to the bed to hold himself up and the other wrapping around my waist to hold me still.
Thunder rumbled through the sky outside; loud enough to shake all of Asgard, and lightning lit up the room. Shadows spun excitedly on the walls as ancient magic whirled in the air; cooling my flushed skin. Thor lifted his face from my neck; giving me one final lick before he reared up and grabbed my hips. As Bilskinir trembled around us, he filled me with magic and flesh; steering us back into the flow of ecstasy smoothly but fiercely.
Then he began to shake, and he shouted my name; a rush of power flowing from him and into me as he came. It had filled my blood, my bones, and my very cells with magic before it burst from me in a savage cry of pleasure. We trembled with our completion until we collapsed together in exhaustion. He rolled to the side and pulled me across his chest, where I laid my head so I could hear his heartbeat slowing along with mine. The storm continued to rage outside but in his arms, I felt calm and safe.
"Thank you for this."Thor brushed my hair away and stroked his fingers over my throat.
"I'm as happy to be rid of those scars as you are to see them go."I snuggled into him and felt his arms settle around me.
"Now, all will know you're mine."He kissed the top of my head and my eyes shot open. What was with these guys and their possessiveness? Was it a god thing? I tensed, and he must have felt it because he angled his head to look at my face and ask, "You're upset? You gave me permission, Vervain."
"I know."I lifted my head so he could see I had no regrets. "I just need to get used to a possessive god for a boyfriend. The mine talk throws me."
Thor smiled a little but then his eyes went serious. "We have both been fools."He held my face and kissed me gently. "I should never have let you walk out."
"You mean you should never have kicked me out."I smiled to soften my words. "I'm sorry I said such horrible things to you; I didn't mean them."
"I know, darling."Thor ran a finger over my lips. "It's all better now."
"Better. What a grossly inadequate word,"I mumbled as I fell asleep to the sound of thunder and Thor's laughter, unsure which was which.